by Sean Liscom
CHAPTER 12
Sunday, September 3rd, 2017
“WHAT?” the windows of the security shack vibrated as the three planes flew low overhead.
“The call sign is Air Force One!” Jeff said a little too loudly. By now everyone else had come running back into the shack.
“I thought that’s what you said,” I put the mic to my mouth. “Air Force One, Sterling ranch. Do you copy?”
“We’ve got you loud and clear, Sterling ranch. To whom am I speaking?” the male voice asked.
“Jason Sterling.”
“Copy, Mr. Sterling. Please standby,” I looked at everyone else and was greeted with wide eyes and open mouths. About 10 seconds later, the male voice was replaced by a woman.
“Mr. Sterling, Jane Dixon here. Any chance you’d be available for a meeting?”
“Uh, Mrs. Dixon, er.... Madam President…. Uh, sure,” I stammered.
“Jane will be fine. We’re going to be setting down in Elko in a few minutes and I’d really like to meet with you. I know it's short notice, but can we make that happen?”
“Sure! We can be at the airport in about 40 minutes.”
“Just meet us at the mayor’s office. Copy?”
“We’ll be there, Sterling ranch, out.” I replied and handed the mic back to Jeff. The first set of eyes mine locked with were Kari’s. “Spector team up for a trip to town?”
“Most of our vehicles are still in pieces……” she replied.
“We take the two remaining Jeeps, two Suburban’s and my pick-up. Get your people and rally in the parking lot in five. Full battle rattle,” I turned my attention to Isabella. “You’re coming too.”
“Are we really meeting the President of the United States?” Jill asked in disbelief.
“Sounds like it. Grab your gear,” I looked at Dan. “You’ve got the watch. Set up a QRF (Quick Response Force) and keep them on standby until we come back through the gate.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Get your gear, Braden. We might as well let her meet the whole Sterling clan,” I chuckled. “Let’s go people,” I said and started for the door. Jill and I went to our house and retrieved our weapons and body armor. Jill ran through the kitchen and grabbed a leftover breakfast sandwich from the fridge.
“What? I’m hungry!” she said as she moved past me out the door.
Our convoy left the ranch with my pick-up in the middle of the column. I wanted to be the lead vehicle but Cory Rockwell, Kari’s second in command, insisted otherwise. There were four people in each of the Jeeps and Suburban’s. Four more were riding in the bed of my truck. Braden and I were in the front seat with Jill, Kari and Isabella in the back seat.
I radioed ahead and let the checkpoint know that we were bearing down on them and needed immediate access. When we arrived 10 minutes later, we were waved through without stopping. I was a little surprised when we pulled around the back of the mayor’s office and found Major Jacksons team vehicles were already parked there. Along with the MRAP’s and Hummers, the two remaining Suburban’s from Vegas were parked close to the back door.
I counted 10 of the Majors men outside and another five I didn’t recognize. I surmised that they were part of the President’s security detail. After we parked our vehicles and climbed out, I waved Cory over. Kari was standing right next to me.
“Cory, tie in with the Majors men and set a perimeter that bolsters theirs. If something should go wrong, don’t leave without us!” I said it with a smile. He looked to Kari and when he received her nod of approval, he acknowledged my orders.
“Yes, sir!” he said and turned away.
We were stopped by the men I didn’t know but as soon as Harold Anders stepped through the back door and vouched for us, we were allowed to pass. He took us down the long hallway toward the stairwell.
“Did you know the President coming?” I asked.
“No! Nobody knew she was coming. Even Major Jackson was in the dark,” he said as he opened the door to the stairs.
“If this day gets any weirder,” I muttered as I took the stairs two at a time. When we exited on the second floor, I nearly plowed into Sheriff Darren Watson.
“Darren!” I greeted the cowboy turned lawman. “How’s Amber? Haven’t seen her in a while.”
“Jason,” he jutted out his hand for a quick handshake. “She’s huge! Should be popping out a kid any day now!” he beamed proudly.
“Hope he or she gets their momma’s good looks and smarts,” I joked as we got closer to the mayor’s office. He laughed a hearty laugh and knocked on the door.
“Enter!” came the immediate response. Darren turned the handle and allowed us to pass through first.
Before I was even halfway across the large room, the President was out of her chair and met me halfway, her hand outstretched.
“Madam President.”
“Please, call me Jane. I’m not big on formalities.”
“Jane, glad to meet you,” I said and began the introductions.
“I was under the impression there were only three of you, I wasn’t expecting five Sterling’s. Big tribe ya got,” she laughed and shook hands all around before moving back towards Mayor Calvert’s desk. I caught the look in his eyes and could tell he was a little confused too. He took it in stride. Major Dennis Jackson slipped into the room behind us.
“Now that we’re all here, I guess we should get this little meeting underway,” Jane said shifting to a serious tone. “I’d be willing to bet, you all got a lot of questions,” she began.
She took over the floor for the next thirty minutes and talked about what had brought her to Elko today. The eight of us, myself, Jim Calvert, Darren Watson, Dennis Jackson, Kari, Isabella, Braden and Jill all sat silently while she laid out her future plans for the region.
We learned that a train full of supplies had left Salt Lake City at eight that morning and was due to arrive in Elko within 24 hours. It was loaded with fuel, food, medicines, auto parts, generators, radio equipment and just about anything else to keep a small army running.
Elko was going to be used as a staging area in preparation for the military and governments push to the west. I remembered when Dennis had told us this was going to happen, but I still had a little trouble wrapping my head around it.
We also learned that the military would leave behind a 100-man garrison to protect the supplies and ensure future shipments once the railway had been cleared all the way to the coast. That was expected to begin sometime in December.
She assured us that the government in Austin, Texas, was up and running and building steam with each passing day. The problem was; there was very little representation of the states at the ground level. She admitted that everything west of the Mississippi river fell into Texas’s sphere of influence, the states west of the Rockies had zero influence in Austin. She wanted that to change.
“Jim, if you’ll accept the position, I’d like you to be the new Governor of Nevada,” she said flatly. He stared at her in wide eyed shock. When he said nothing, she continued. “There are a couple of other people I’ve considered for the position but you’re the best, most qualified person for the task. What do ya say, Jim?”
“Beg yer pardon, ma’am, but I’m just a guy who was running a ranch a year ago. I didn’t ask to be the Mayor, Jason there threw it in my lap....” is voice trailed off as he pointed at me.
“That’s one of the reasons I picked you, Jim. You’re a down to earth guy and you didn’t want the job in the first place. If you had, we wouldn’t be having his conversation. I want people who’ve got a head on their shoulders and can think for themselves. I don’t want or need someone in the position who’s looking for personal gain. C’mon, I need an answer,” she pressured.
“Well, um.... This isn’t permanent, is it?”
“No, it’s not. Once all of the Governors have been seated, there will be an election within two years. Even if you get re-elected, you will be term limited by the end of that second term.�
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“I don’t know. That’s an awful lot for you to come in here and throw on my desk.”
“Listen, Jim, you’re a native Nevadan. You grew up in this area and you know the people. You know what they need and what they want. At the same time, you’re a hard man. You don’t take shit from nobody and you put your people first. You may not have wanted to be the Mayor of Elko, but you took the job. And I must say, you’re probably the best man to represent Nevada in Austin.”
“Can I have a few minutes to think about it?” he asked sheepishly.
“Yeah, but I want an answer before I leave this office,” she turned to face me. “Jason Sterling, boy, I’ve heard a lot about you!”
“Not all bad, I hope,” I replied.
“Ya know, technically, you’re the most notorious warlord west of the Rocky Mountains. You and your merry band has gotten a lot of attention. Hell, the stories that are coming out of this place have gone from coast to coast. Y’all have become quite serious players in the grand scheme of things.”
“Warlord?” I questioned.
“I said, technically. Truth is, the moniker fits. I don’t really know if there is even a term for a good warlord. If there is, I ain’t never heard it. When we think of warlords, we tend to think of bad people who do bad things. You’re quite the opposite. You do bad things to bad people,” she chuckled a little. “I need people like you too, Jason.”
“How so?”
“Major Jackson there tells me that you’ve been training your own Special Forces teams. I want you to expand on that operation. I want to capitalize on what you’ve done.”
“I don’t know that I’d call them Special Forces, but to answer your question, yes. We’ve been training teams to help secure the area.”
“I called them Special Forces because that’s what they really are. Not in the traditional sense, to be sure, but they are exactly what I need. If you can get the full backing of the government in Austin, can you up your training regimen?” she asked.
“We were already planning on doing that. We’re actually going to move the training program from my ranch to the college campus here in town,” I told her.
“I know about all of that, Jason. Dennis has filled me in on your plans. I guess what I’m asking is; if given the right support, how many teams can you turn out in say, a year?” I was doing the math in my head when Jill spoke up.
“Ma’am, it’s not so much about how many we can crank out. It’s a quality over quantity thing. Our first three teams went through a six-week crash course. We’re upping that, tentatively, to eight weeks. Maybe even ten depending on the curriculum. We had planned on running two classes, side-by-side, but still.”
“Let me ask you this then; what’s keeping you from running more than two classes at a time?”
“Lack of instructors and lack of supplies.”
“Fair enough. I told you that there would be 100 soldiers stationed here in Elko to provide security for the trains and supplies, right? Those soldiers are from the 10th Special Forces Group out of Fort Carson, Colorado. They’re the real deal, Jill. What if you used them as instructors and you were given an allotment from every shipment that comes through here? Would that relieve you of your problems?”
“The supplies, absolutely, but we can’t use them as instructors. It just won’t work,” Jill replied with a shake of her head.
“Why not?”
“No offense, ma’am, but they’re not locals. They’re not invested in this community the same way our instructors are. They don’t have a horse in the race, so to speak.”
“I see. So, what you’re telling me is; you need people that have a stake in what goes on, right?”
“In so many words, yes,” Jill replied. The President put her finger to her pursed lips and began to pace a little while she contemplated the situation. After a full minute of this, she finally spoke.
“Jill, what do you think of Major Jackson over there?” she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb.
“He’s been a godsend to this community,” she answered.
“Is he respected in these parts?”
“Tremendously.”
“Would you say that he and his men have a stake in what goes on around here?”
“In the year that we’ve known them, I’d say they have become family....” she put two and two together as to where this was going.
“You’ve used Major Jackson and his men as instructors before, right?”
“We have, yes,” President Dixon nodded thoughtfully and turned to face the Major.
“Major Jackson, I’m re-assigning your unit. Effective immediately, you will fall under the command of the Sterling ranch. You will also, officially, be the liaison between the ranch and the military. Your unit will serve in whatever capacity the ranch personnel see fit. Understood?”
“YES, MA’AM!” Dennis said loudly. She turned back to face Jill.
“You’ve got the instructors you need. You’ll have the supplies you need. I’m not going to tell you how to run your unit, you’ve done fine so far. What I ask is that you turn out the best teams possible. Can you do that?”
“Yeah.... Yes, ma’am,” Jill stammered
“Good. Now we’ve got just one other matter to attend to,” she returned her attention to me. “Jason, I count five of the Sterling tribe here in this room, which is a couple more than I had anticipated, but one seems conspicuously absent. Where might I find the patriarch of this bunch? Where is Jack Sterling? Major Jackson told me he had returned to his ranch and he had very tall tale to tell. Why’s he not here?”
“Crap,” I muttered to myself. “Well, it’s like this….” I began and told her what I knew. I left out the parts about the other ranches, it wouldn’t serve any purpose to tell her about them. I did tell her what I knew about the ARK’s, specifically the one in Los Angeles. In an attempt to give the story some credit, I gave her some of the backstory about the kidnappings and what Jack used to do for a living. After spending a half hour telling the tale, right up to the point of his escape this morning. She looked at me thoughtfully for a full minute.
“Let me see if I got all of this straight,” she leaned against Jim’s desk. “You want me to believe that North Korea and Iran, two countries that we nuked off the map, were NOT responsible for the global EMP attack?”
“They were involved, they just didn’t initiate the attack,” I replied.
“Okay, I’ll give you that point. They were not the culprits, instead, it was some shadowy world elite that was responsible?”
“Correct.”
“You also want me to believe they are in the stages of planning a second, deadlier attack using biological weapons, right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. It sounded even crazier when someone else was talking about it.
“I see. You said the EMP attack came from specially outfitted cargo ships and the second attack would come from those same ships. Twenty-three ships, to be exact?”
“Yes. Look, I know it sounds crazy but....”
“Not as crazy as you might think, Jason. What if I told you that a cargo ship washed up on the shore of Morombe, Madagascar and now nearly every inhabitant of the island is dead?”
“I…. I wouldn’t know what to say.”
“I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but this is still classified as TOP-SECRET. This doesn’t leave this room. Understand?” she asked. I nodded. “We found out about this three weeks ago. The government of South Africa has been doing some trading with the locals on Madagascar. They usually run out there once a month and on their last trip, every man, woman and child in the village of Morombe was dead. It wasn’t only the village that was dead, it was the entire island of Madagascar. By the time the trading vessel returned to its home port, the only person alive was the ships first mate. Another 289 people died before the government of South Africa could get out ahead of whatever was killing people. My understanding is that it took some very, VERY drastic measures to stop the
spread. So, no. This tale of yours ain’t all that far-fetched.”
“I had no idea....” my voice trailed off.
“I’ve been assured by the South Africans that the ship and island have been completely sealed off from outsiders and their quarantine efforts have been successful, but I got a little problem,” she stood and started to pace again. “If your father knows about the mission of these “Elites” and he knows how to stop them, I need to back his play,” she walked over to the office door and opened it. Standing just outside was one of her security detail. She said something to him and then closed the door again.
“Do you know the whereabouts of the LA ARK?” she asked.
“Not yet but we're working on it,” I’d left out the part of the coordinates being in the journals. “I’ve got a guy who used to be NSA, he’s been using a satellite to try and find its exact location,” this was met with a raised eyebrow.
“You got a spook working for you and he hijacked one of our birds?” she asked.
“Yeah, sorry.”
“Don’t be! That’s actually pretty damn impressive! Brilliant even.” she chuckled. It was about that time there was a knock at the door. She walked over and opened it. The man she had spoken to earlier came in the room with a portable radio set. He set it on Jim’s desk and left.
“Do you think you can get me the location of the ARK in the next 48 hours?” she asked.
“We’ll do our best,” I replied. She nodded and picked up the headset. She slipped it over her ears, tuned the dial and began to speak.
“SLC Regional, this is Fox, do you copy?” after a moment she began again. “Launch the alert C-130 and point it in this direction. Make sure you pack as much whoop-ass in the back as it will carry and get the fuel bowsers rolling too. You’re going to have some thirsty birds by the time they get where they gotta go and get back. I’ve got a mission for our boys.... Affirmative…… I’ll fill them in when they get here.... Yes, thank you, General, Fox out,” she slipped the headset off. “Mr. Sterling, get me that location and I’ll drop a whole lot of help in the neighborhood for your father.”